ABSTRACT
The 1996 Italian reform of sexual offences was hailed as a victory for women and a cultural turnaround in its symbolic recognition and protection of sexual autonomy. The lynchpin of the reform is that the law now classifies sexual offences as ‘offences against personal freedom’, whereas previously they were classified as simply ‘offences against public morality’. Under the 1930 Rocco code, sexual autonomy and bodily integrity had not been protected as interests in themselves, but rather as part of the public good. This was symptomatic of the fascist ideology underpinning the code and the historical legacy of the Italian legal tradition that conceptualized sexual activity as tied to legitimate procreation. The symbolic potential of law has been used to promote the axiological value of the right to sexual autonomy – the reform has been lived by women as a strategic and symbolic legitimization and recognition of their existence as political subjects (Manna 2005). The new law has thus been used to send an ideological message to society about the status of women and the right to sexual self-determination. This is particularly important in view of the fact that sexual violence takes place within culturally and sociologically defined parameters (Ponti and Merzagora Betsos 2008).
